( 100 ) Feb. 



BRANCH III. 

 Agricultural, Intelligence. 



The flourlfliing ftate of Scottilli hufbandry having of late exci- 

 ted much inquiry among our fouthern neighbours, we are indu^ 

 ced to open the intelligence department of this volume with a re- 

 trofpeclive view of the caufes which contributed to place the 

 country under its prefent happy circumftances. Though moft 

 of them are of ancient Handing, yet it is but of recent date that 

 they have operated and produced beneficial eife^ls. So true it is, 

 that the wifeft law, in many refpeds, may be conlidered as a dead 

 letter, till it is blown upon, or brought into adlion ; then, all at 

 once, it Iprings into life, and difplays the wifdom and forefight 

 of the fages who enacted it. 



Agriculture long remained imperfectly underftood in North 

 Britain ; but, fmce the middle of the eighteenth century, this fci- 

 ence has rapidly advanced towards perfection. In feveral of the low- 

 land diflricts, it is now carried on in a ftyle equal, if not fuperior, 

 to that of the moil favourite EncilKli counties, and over the wlv)le 

 country extenlive improvements have recently been executed. In 

 this leading article, we fliall prefent a hafty &etch of the ftate of 

 Scottilh hufoandry during the laft century, and point out a few 

 of the caufes which have contributed to place the firft of the arts 

 upon its prefent refpedable footing. 



The feudal fyitem prevailed in Scotland longer than in the lifter 

 kingdom, and its effects placed the cultivators of the foil in the 

 moft abjeft and dependent ftate. Men of enlarged minds, or 

 thofe upon whom liberal fentiments operated, avoided a profelfion 

 upon which contempt and poverty were neceilarily entailed : hence 

 the tenantry were generally ignorant of or unacquainted with the 

 ])rinciples of the fcience which they followed, and of the prac- 

 tices not only of other nations, but even of the conterminous dlf- 

 tricts. Indolence likewife prevailed in a remarkable degree, and 

 of courfe every branch of rural labour was executed in the moft 

 flovenly manner. So late as the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, fummer fallow was unkr-own, at leaft it was unpra6tifed in 

 Scotland, though this radical improvci':ent has been prevalent 

 among our fouthern neighbours lince the period of the' Roman 

 invafion. 



Fortunately for Scotland^ a few men of fuperior abilities con- 



temnlalcd. 



